The Last of Us
by FaithfullyFallen417
Summary: ZA AU. In the five years that follow the walker outbreak, much of civilization is destroyed by the infection. Survivors live in heavily gauged safezones, and nomadic groups. One survivor, Daryl Dixon works as a smuggler for both the army and the rebel group known as the Fireflies. He is given the task to escort a young blonde woman out of the city who just may be the key the cure.
1. The Cure

The Last of Us

**Hey Everyone, this is a multi chapter AU Bethyl fic based off the video game The Last of Us. I finished playing it a few weeks ago and have been coming up with this idea for a bethyl Fic based off of it. For those of you who know the game, then you know what to expect but for those who don't, you can either look it up or just enjoy the fic. **

The rain outside was heavy on the windows as Daryl Dixon tossed and turned in a restless sleep. Nightmares haunted his dream ever since the turn. He'd see the faces of the people that had fallen to the walkers, the people who he swore to protect. There were times, where he could hear their screams of anguish in his sleep and then there were times it was silent and he'd witness their deaths over and over again. It was a knock at the door that pulled him from his sleep, making him shoot up from his bed and his eyes adjust to the darkness of his bed room. Daryl pulled on a shirt as he pulled on a shirt and dragged himself out of bed and opened the door. Behind it stood the last remaining person of the group he was originally in. Carol Peletier was the closest thing to family he had, she was the only person who could trust and for her seeing him this early, there had to be something wrong. "What's up?" He asked her in a groggy voice.

Carol pushed herself into his room and looked at him with worry in her eyes. "It's Dawn." Daryl went rigged at that name. Dawn was the only anarchist that lived during this end time. She had created a rebel group known as the fireflies and they were responsible for the attacks on the government safe zones. It was unfair how the government handled things, the land of the free and the home of the brave turned into a dictatorship after the turn and what was left of the government rose from the ashes and controlled everything. Curfews, rations, and never let a single soul out of the safezones. "She has a mission for us." Carol continued as Daryl shook his head no and took a step back. "I understand you hesitation, Daryl, but this is huge! For all of us. She discovered something and she wants that something smuggled out of the city."

Daryl shook his head and took a seat on the window sill as he lit a cigarette and blew his smoke out the window. He looked at the older woman with unreadable eyes. It must have been serious since Dawn wanted him to do it, but Daryl didn't trust the rebel group, not after the death of so many of the people who he called his family. "What she want me fer?"

"Because you're the best shot here, Daryl." Carol deadpanned. "C'mon, she said she'd pay us in weapons and rations and lord knows we need it."

Daryl thought about it for a moment, knowing that he'd need more bolts, smokes and whiskey for those nights when sleep was just impossible. "Fine," He agreed. "But just this once." Carol smiled happily at him as Daryl walked across the room and pulled on his leather vest and grabbed his crossbow. "Let's see what the cop wants."

XxX

Getting to Dawn's hide out was harder then it looked. There was dodging the US army and paying off people that guarded the entrances. The whole time, he had this unnerving feeling in his stomach, so his bowie knife was tightly held in his hand. When they reached the warehouse where Dawn lived, Daryl was instructed by other fireflies to put away their weapons. Daryl did as well as Carol, no matter how much he hated it and walked through the large doors to come face to face with the leader.

Dawn was a stubborn, proud woman that knew her way around a gun. All in all, she was a killing machine and a leader to the rebel group. The woman swore that this whole thing would come to an end once she could find a cure. The whole thing made Daryl roll his eyes. He had been out there, he watched his father and his brother be torn apart by walkers. He met eyes with the intense woman and she nodded her head and the doors closed behind them. "Daryl Dixon." She flatly said. "Never thought I'd see you again."

"Y'got somethin' for me to do, don't cha?" He grunted and Dawn nodded her head as she motioned for them to follow her. Daryl kept his eyes on the gun that Dawn always kept by her side as she spoke about the mission. Getting something smuggled out of the city before sun down, and how others from her group would meet him outside the city to take it from there. It was simple enough and once she showed them their reward, Daryl found himself agreeing. Guns, knives, tickets for more meals and showers, clothes and bedding. "So where is it?"

Dawn then pulled a curtain beside to reveal a blonde young woman sitting on a cot. Daryl took a moment to look at the girl and then glared at Dawn. Was this some sort of joke? "Now before you start cussing me out, you need to see something. Beth, come here."

The woman looked like she was barely twenty and was the embodiment of innocence. "She's a little pure for ya." Daryl commented. It was the truth though; she didn't look fit for this world. "What did she do, why does she need to leave the city?"

"Show them." Dawn commanded and Beth took off her jean jacket to show them her arm. Carol looked over at Daryl in confusion and stepped closer to examine the girls arm. She covered her mouth and gasped, looking over at Dawn with anger in her eyes.

"The girls been bit!" She exclaimed in disgust. "She could turn any minute!"

Daryl went straight for his knife but was quickly stopped by Dawn. "Look at the bite before you go killin' someone. It's a year old!" So this time Daryl took a step closer to the blonde girl, taking her delicate arm with his rough hand and looked at the old scar. His face distorted and he looked into her fresh blue eyes. "She's immune." Dawn told them. "When we found her, the bit itself was healing. I went to-" She looked over at Beth who kept her eyes glued to the ground. "But her father, he was with her. He told me that it was already a month old and he was trying to get him to safety, but." Dawn's voice trailed off.

"He was shot," It was Beth that spoke up. "Through the head by a solider with an eye patch." Her gentle voice betrayed her harsh words and Daryl carefully examined the girl. "Dawn thinks I'm the cure and if you can get me out of the city, this will all be over."

Daryl shifted on his feet before nodding. "Just out of the city?" All three women nodded their heads and he turned his attention back to Beth. "Can you handle a gun?" She nodded. "Alright, we leave now." All he wanted was to get this mission done and over with.

XxX

"Is he always this- intense"

"Yeah, he's just…well, Daryl"

"What's with the crossbow?"

"A quiet kill."

"And the vest?"

"He-"

Daryl turned around at the two women and held a finger to his lips before pointing at the light at the end of the swear tunnel. They were almost out, He was in disbelief that they made it. "Remember to keep yer eyes open." Daryl advised.

"Walkers?" Beth asked

"People." He answered as they walked out of the sewer tunnel. It had been too quit for Daryl's liking. There were few walkers that hadn't been a real problem and that was how he discovered that Beth was a decent shot.

_"_Wow" He heard Beth whisper. "I've never been out of the city before." She softly said. Daryl and Carol both understood her wonder. Nature had taken back the world. There wasn't anyone around to take care of the plants or even the water ways. It was a beautiful sight, but haunting at the same time. Houses crumbled as nature took back what belonged to it. "I um, I can't swim." She said, pointing the stream that was once a road.

"It's okay, it's not that deep." Carol reassured her. "And you see Daryl, we made it, we-"

_"Drop your weapons."_

Daryl gave an annoyed grunt as the solider commanded them to drop them again. He looked behind at Beth and Carol and gave them a nod. Both women dropped their guns as the solider began to scan them, a way for them to check their identity and whether or not they've been infected or not. He started with Daryl, and then moved on to Carol, then finally Beth. The solider stopped and looked at Beth in confusion before getting on his walkie. That was when Daryl finally could move for a gun and shot the man. The sound of the gunfire must have stirred up the walkers, because it wasn't long before they began trickling out of the buildings. "C'mon!" Daryl yelled as walkers began to swarm them. His grip on Beth was tight as Carol followed behind, fighting off the walkers that she could. He knew the army would be coming after them and now they couldn't go back to the safezone after this stunt. "City hall," He panted as they trudged through the water. "Right up there." They ran up the stairs and Daryl beat down the door and what they saw was a blood bath.

"The army." Beth muttered. "They got here before we did."

Daryl looked around in horror. "What the fuck are we supposed to do now, huh?" He turned back to Carol. "We can't take her back to the city, they'll kill us!"

Carol's face was unreadable as she looked around at the massacre. "You need to take her to Washington, to whatever doctor that she needs to see. She is the only hope this world has, Daryl."

The only thing that Daryl caught was the word 'you' rather than 'we'. He took a step forward and studied her. "What do you mean, me?"

The sound of gun shots filled the air and the walkers outside began to fall. Carol looked up at him with mournful eyes and showed him her shoulder. A crescent moon shape bite was fresh in her skin and Daryl felt his world crash. "Daryl, don't you lose yourself. Get out of here and get that girl to safety. She's the only chance." Carol turned towards the doors and took out her gun. "I'll keep them off as long as I can. Just do what you can to keep her safe- please, for Sophia."

Daryl blinked back the angry tears that threatened to fall. Carol had been like the mother he never had and this girl, this Beth- why should she have to sacrifice for a girl he didn't even know. "Carol-"

Carol shook her head before smiling. "It's been fun, Robin Hood."

Daryl looked down at the blood stained floor and nodded. "Yeah, it's been fun." He glanced a Beth and noticed the tears prickling in her eyes. "I'll see you someday, Carol."

The older woman nodded her head and smiled at Beth. "Now you two get going, find Dale's house. He'll get you a car. Good luck to the both of you."

And with that, Daryl took Beth by the arm and ran down one of the dark hallways of the building out of the window's, blocking out the sound of the gunfire and the sound of his friend falling to the floor. He'd get this girl to Washington, if it was the last thing he'd ever do.


	2. New Faces

The Last of Us

**AN- _Hey everyone! Thank you all for the positive feedback. The first chapter was an introduction to the story so yes, there are a lot of things to learn about the characters. It may happen in the middle of the story since we have to learn how the characters act around each other. I'm actually changing the timeframe though. The turn happened when Daryl was twenty and Beth was ten. So the turn happened in 2004 so now Beth's twenty and Daryl's 30. Anyway, happy reading!_**

"Daryl, Daryl- we've been walkin'for hours…ain't we gonna stop?" Beth asked in the most gentle tone she could muster. They have walked all day and Daryl had shut her out. "I know we're almost out of the city and that's great, but we can't fight walkers if we're tired." Beth balled her fists up in frustration when it became obvious that he was still ignore her, but she let out a sigh. She knew that if she blew up on him, that she'd bring the rage of Daryl and by the looks of the guy? He had a lot of it in him. So she licked her lips. "Daryl," She stepped up and touched his shoulder, almost regretting it when she felt him go rigid. "You look like shit, we need to stop before you crash."

He gave her a grunt in response, stopping in his tracks to look around. He seemed to pin point somewhere because he started walking again and Beth followed after him. After a few flights of stairs, he had found them a safe apartment where they could get some sleep. Beth watched him board up the door, tie a belt on the knob, then something on the wall. Finally, he pushed a couch over to the door and laid down on it, putting one hand behind his head and closed his eyes. Beth had curled herself up on a chair and looked at the man in front of her. He was really a mystery, but the one thing she knew was that woman and him were close, and who was Sophia? "Girl, yer the one that wanted to sleep, so shut yer damn eyes 'nd stop starrin' at me."

She sent a glare his way and turned her body away from his. "Your watch is broken, by the way." She snipped, referring to the shattered watch on his wrist. He opened one eye, looked at his wrist and muttered a 'yeah' before falling into yet another restless sleep.

XxX

It was another nightmare that drove him from his sleep. His eyes shot open and he looked across to find that Beth was not in the chair. Panic began to rise in his throat, he couldn't have lost her too. "You talk in your sleep." Daryl sat up and saw that Beth was sitting on the window sill, looking out at the city below. "Nightmares?" She asked and Daryl wordlessly nodded his head as he joined her at the window, lighting another cigarette. "I have them a lot too." Beth licked her lips when she felt Daryl's intense eyes on her, she wondered what he thought about her or if he thought she was helpless, or even blamed her for Carol's death. "I've never been this close to the outside before. It's beautiful."

"S'dangerous." Daryl corrected her with his smoke between his lips. "Ya gotta know how to handle yerself out there, screwed if ya don't."

It was the first time he spoke in hours, Beth felt the overwhelming urge to apologize for Carol, but she remembered how she was after her daddy died. It was the last thing she wanted to hear. "I know how to survive, Daryl." She assured him before turning back to window. It wasn't long before something caught her eye and Daryl's. "Is that an RV driving down the road?"

Daryl leaned back and chuckled. "That'd be Dale." He opened the window and yelled out. "Hey Dale!" The RV stopped and then backed up. Beth squinted to make out an old man in a fishing cap. "Obey the fuckin traffic laws and hold up a sec!" Dale yelled back something that Beth couldn't understand, but Daryl did. He shut the window and went over to the door and moved the sofa along with the nails on the boards. "Grab your shit, we getting ourselves a car."

They took care some of the lingering walkers as they made their way to the outside. Of course some would come wandering after hearing Daryl's and Dale's exchange. Beth didn't mind them, but a part of her worried about Daryl. Even though he was more than capable with handling them, she had never seen someone kill them with such wrath as Daryl had. As soon as they got out into the street, they were greeted by the man wearing the fishing hat. "Dixon, still survin' I see." Dale looked over at Beth and then chuckled at Daryl. "Carol know that you're runnin' away with some youngin'?"

"We just need a car." Daryl snapped, not bothering with Dale's question. "I gotta get this girl outta Georgia and to Rick's. Can you find us a car?"

Dale looked between the pretty blonde woman and Daryl. The blonde woman looked guilty as sin about something and Daryl looked as if he'd seen better days. "Fine." He said and then pointed to Beth. "But you don't touch anything."

Beth raised in her hands in defeat and climbed into the RV with Daryl behind her. She plopped herself down onto a sofa and Daryl sat in the passenger side. They sat in silence for a while and Daryl knew that Dale was going to be full of questions, so he just gave a sigh and looked over at him. "You wanna know why Carol ain't here and why I'm stuck with that girl, dontcha?"

Dale looked back at the girl who was sound asleep on the couch and then nodded. "Just weird seein' ya with her and with someone knew. I know you, Daryl, and I know you ain't a fan of change."

"The girl, Beth- she's important. We got this mission, me and Carol. Dawn wanted us to smuggle Beth outta the city." Dale scoffed at the mention of Dawn's name and Daryl knew all too well that he hated the rebel group. Their bombs killed his wife and their two adopted sons, so there weren't any warm feelings when it came to the fireflies. "It was supposed to be an easy mission, a simple drop off, but it went bad. The army caught up with us, Walkers chased us into city hall and the men that were supposed to take Beth were already dead." Daryl paused and looked back at Beth. "Carol's dead."

"Cause of her?" Dale asked and Daryl shook his head no. "What's so important about this girl? Why they want her out of the city?"

Daryl dragged his hands over his face. "She's different, and that's all I can really tell ya right now. If I get her to Rick then he can get her to where she needs to go."

"She's a pretty thing, you better not get yourself too attached." Dale commented and saw Daryl's unreadable expression. "Anyway, I have a car stored over in the school. We can get it, stock you up with some food and water and you'll both be outta my hair."

XxX

"Beth, c'mon. Dale's gonna give us a car." Beth's eyes fluttered open and she turned a light shade of pink when she realized that Daryl was nearly a few inches away from her face. His steel blue eyes bore into hers and she quickly nodded her head as she got up from the couch. "Say's we gotta be careful. He has all the walkers in the gym, but a few might still be wandering the halls. Do ya got yer gun?" She nodded her head and Daryl stepped back. "Just keep yer eyes open."

She followed closely behind Daryl as they maneuvered through the hallways of the decaying school. "How do you know him?" Beth whispered. "Dale is someone we can trust, right?"

Daryl turned his head and looked at her. "He was in a group that I was a part of." He explained. "I told 'em what happened with the soldiers and Carol, but he doesn't know about yer…condition." Beth narrowed her eyes at him. "Just don't go tellin' no one about it, okay? They'll either think yer crazy or shoot you on spot. I promised Carol I'd finish this, and I don't want you go dyin' on me before we can finish this, walkers might not be able to kill ya, but a bullet sure can."

He hadn't spoke about Carol to her before and the rest of it, she wasn't sure if he was keeping her alive out of the goodness of his heart or if this was just another job. "Daryl, about Carol, I-"

"Don't say her name," He harshly bit out. "Just don't talk about her." And there it was. She gave him a sigh and just like that, he was ignoring her again. Not many people cared about her, only her family did but they've been gone for years now. Right now, it was just her and this redneck against this fucked up world.

"Hey!" She looked up quickly when she heard Dale call out. "Cars in here!"

XxX

"S'not startin'."

"I know that, I ain't car jesus, what do you want me to do!"

Beth sat in the driver seat of the car as she listened to the two men argue. They had been going at this for fifteen minutes and she was getting a little tired of hearing it. The truck was filled with gas, but it refused to start. "Maybe if you two push it, we can get it going. Think about it, the engine hasn't been used in ten years, it just needs a little push."

The two men looked at each other and Dale gave her a thumbs up. "I don't know why I didn't think about that." He muttered. "She's a keeper, Dixon." Dale went to the bed of the truck and showed him that he had the whole thing stocked. "Everything's in there that you'll need." He put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. "Just be careful, Daryl.

Daryl nodded as he opened up the driver side door and watched as Beth moved over to the passenger's side. "I'm always careful, old man."

Dale gave a hearty laugh. "Of course you are, now get the fuck outta my town."

The engine of the truck roared to life and Beth looked up at Daryl. "Where to next, Mr. Dixon?" She asked him in a small voice.

"I'm taking you are far as West Virginia I got someone there that'll take care of ya." He took a deep breath. "Now it's just about stayin' alive till we get there.


	3. Highway to the Danger Zone

The Last of Us

It was raining again, Beth thought that it rained more now than it did before the turn. She sometimes wondered if it was God's way of trying to cleanse the earth. But then again, any form of belief had been thrown out the window when the dead walked again. She drew a deep breath as she leaned her head on the window, realizing how annoying the silence in the car was. Beth knew that Daryl didn't speak much, he had the whole tall, dark, handsome, mysterious man thing going for him and whether it was attractive or not, it was getting old. She leaned back to grab her backpack from the backseat and started rummaging through the black bag before giving a happy yes and looked over at Daryl and flashed the CD at him. "Bring back some memories for ya?"

Daryl looked over at the CD and actually chuckled. "John Denver, really?" His eyes narrowed before he looked back at the road. "Where'd ya get that?"

Beth shrunk back in her seat. "Well, um- you're friend had a pretty big collection so." She looked down at her hands under Daryl's gaze. "I got us some books and other stuff, he won't miss it."

"Great, I'm stuck with a fuckin' klepto" He took the CD from her and put it into the disk drive, allowing the soothing music pour from the speakers. "Better than nothing." He grunted and looked over at Beth. His eyes suddenly went wide when he saw what Beth had also taken from Dale's RV, a porno magazine. "Uh, Beth."

She looked over at him with her big, innocent doe eyes. "Hm?" She giggled. "Oh yeah, I found this too and just…how in the hell can people bend like that." Her eyebrows furrowed. "Ew, why are some of the pages stuck together?" There was a long pause and she started laughing at Daryl's horrified look. "Calm down Mr. Dixon, I'm twenty, not twelve." She rolled down the window and chucked the porno mag out the window. "I know how things- work."

She giggled again at Daryl's expression and rolled the window back up again. Beth put her head against the head rest and gave him a big smile. "You know, maybe this whole thing won't be so bad."

Daryl glanced her over and nodded. "Hey, how about you get some sleep."

"Psh, I'm not even tired." She scoffed and by the time the sun went down, she was out like a light

XxX

It was early in the morning when Beth finally woke up. She gave a tired yawn and stretched her body out best she could in the cramped truck. Beth gave a spare glance at Daryl and took notice of the tired, black circles under his eyes. "Hey, why don't you pull over and let me drive so you can sleep."

"Nope." He replied, not even missing a beat and even add a pop to the 'P'.

Beth huffed in annoyance. "Daryl-" She began to argue but the car came to a sudden stop and a slew of curse words came out of her mouth. But when she turned to see why they had stopped, she saw that a man was outside the car begging for some sort of help and clutching his stomach. "Oh shit! We need to help him!"

But Daryl saw through what was going on in front of him and put the car in reverse. "Put your seat belt on, Beth."

"But that guy-"

"Now Beth!" He shouted and Beth shakily did what he said. "He ain't even hurt." He added with a low voice. Daryl put his foot to the gas and drove through the men. The one yelled before firing his gun right at the window shield. Beth ducked as Daryl ran one of the guys over as he drove at full speed. When she thought that they were almost in the clear, an brick busted up her window and an truck came speeding at them. Their truck spun out of control before flipping over and the last thing that Daryl heard before blacking out was Beth screaming his name.

XxX

He woke up to the sound of glass being crushed and a place face saying his name. They were still in the upside down truck and Beth was struggling to get him to come to and get out of her seat. "Beth," He started. "Run."

But it was already too late. The men who jumped them came running over and pulled Beth from her seat. "No!" She screamed, kicking them as hard as she could. "Let go of me, chicken shit!" Daryl reached out to grab her but another man came to Daryl's side and started smashing his head against the steering wheel. "Daryl!" Beth yelled again as the man pulled him from his seat and ran his body through a glass window. Daryl began to put up a fight as the man tried to stab his neck with a piece of shattered glass, after a small struggle and listening to Beth fighting off another man, Daryl got the upper hand and impaled the man's throat on the shard of glass.

He turned around just in time to see Beth kick the man in the groin. She could handle herself after all, but it was when the man back handed her is when he saw red. He charged at him and kicked him in the head, knocking him out on impact. Beth scrambled up from the floor and Daryl looked her over. She had a few cuts on her face, her eye was swelling and her shirt was torn. "Thank you." She stuttered and Daryl nodded.

"C'mon, we gotta run." He went over to the truck and quickly got his cross bow out and her back pack. As he turned around, a gun shot fired and the bullet shattered the window. "Get down!" He slid a gun over to Beth so he should defend herself as he loaded up his cross bow. The men were easy enough to take care off and once the fire fight was done. He went around and collected his bolts as Beth found ammo and extra weapons. She packed some food and water bottles and walked over to Daryl. "C'mon, before more shows up."

"How did you know?" She asked quietly, still gathering herself with what happened. "About the ambush?"

There was a long moment of silence before Daryl sighed. "I've been on both sides."

"You gotta do what you gotta do to survive." Beth simply answered as they wandered back alley ways for a safe place to stay.

Daryl felt a bit of relief. He was used to being judged, but Beth seemed to understand where he was coming from. He wondered what she did to survive this long. The living started becoming worse than the dead. "There," He pointed. "If we can get into that motel, we'll be able to get to a top floor and see over the city. The waded through another flooded street and into the hotel. Beth whistled as the sloshed through the waist deep water as Daryl looked for stairs.

"Wow, fancy." Beth commented somewhere behind him. "Have you ever stayed in a place like this?"

He let out a chuckle and shook his head. "Naw, too rich for my blood. I'm a back woods redneck in case you haven't noticed."

Beth rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Yeah, and I'm a regular Georgia Peach."

XxX

They had found a cleared stair case and had carefully crept up the stairs with their weapons at their sides. "Seem's clear." Beth whispered and Daryl nodded in agreement. They had made it to the top floor when the heard a click of a gun and a voice. "Drop your weapons and put your hands up before I lodge one of these bullets in your skull."

XxX

**_A/N- So I want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing. I've been replaying the game to get some ideas, like the ambush and what happens in the next chapter. But I won't be adding the monsters from the game because I don't want to copy it too much and I want to keep it close to TWD. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!_**


	4. Wars in the Streets

The Last of Us

"Drop your weapons and put your hands up before I lodge one of these bullets in your skull." The man said, chuckling lowly once they were on the ground. "Good, now kick 'em on over." Daryl could feel anger building up in his system but did as he was told. "Now, blondie." Daryl looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Beth freeze. "Yeah you, you pretty little thing. Over here- now!" He snapped and Beth stood up her hands shaking as she walked over to him. "Yeah, you'll do good." Daryl clenched his fists as the guy walked over to him. "Now time to take care of you." Before the man could even get to pull the trigger, Daryl sent a kick his way and the man went stumbling, dropping his gun in the process. The man tackled Daryl through one of the wooden doors and wrapped his hands around his neck. "Yer just makin' this harder on the girl!" The man shouted as he strangled Daryl.

But then a gun went off and blood splatted everywhere, the man that had every intention of killing Daryl slumped over, dead. When Daryl sat up, he saw Beth standing at the door way. Her eyes wide and her body still shaking. "Oh my god, I shot the hell out of that guy!"

Daryl groaned as he got up off of the ground. "Yeah, you sure did." It was a clean shot, right through the middle of the attackers head. He was part impressed and part pissed.

Beth seemed to be in a daze as she sat down on a chair. "I feel sick."

He knew what it was, killing walkers was one thing, but a person was a different story. Daryl walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "You'll be fine." He walked up to the body that she was staring at and covered it up with a moth bitten blanket. "Look, I get that it's hard- but it was either him or me." Daryl went back over to her and helped her up. "Now I need you to snap out of it because those guys are still out there and there is no doubt they heard that shot. We need to go, now."

Beth nodded and got up from the chair and licked her lips. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down as best she could. Daryl gave her a look and the left the room, running down a few flights of stairs until they could both hear voices again. "Shit." Daryl whispered and pulled Beth into a dining hall. By the looks of it, it had been decorated for a wedding. _"The shots came from the top floor!" _one of the men yelled and Daryl signaled Beth to follow him onto a balcony. "Listen, I'm gonna lure 'em in and take 'em out one by one, anything goes wrong, you shoot, understand?" Beth nodded her head and Daryl picked up a chair and threw it into the hallway. Daryl jumped the guy and snapped his neck and it wasn't long till the other one showed up, Daryl taking care of him before he could alert the others that were down in the city below. "Keep your head down," He whispered as he handed her a riffle. "I'm gonna go down there, okay?" Beth nodded swiftly as Daryl kept going. "Have you ever used a rifle before?"

There was a pause and a small yes from Beth.

"Good, I'm gonna create us a path." He stopped for a moment and patted her arm. "Make every shot count."

With that he was gone and Beth mentally prepared herself as Daryl left the room and in short five minutes, she caught sight of Daryl and cocked her gun. She could hear the men yelling about finding the others dead and soon enough, all hell broke loose. Daryl fired the bolts from his crossbow as Beth took out the men that Daryl didn't. "Up there, someone's on the-" There was another shot and Daryl signaled her to come down. She strapped the rifle to her back and stuffed extra bullets in her backpack before running down to join him in the street.

"You did good, girl." He congratulated her gruffly, "now c'mon, gotta find a place to hunker down 'fore it gets to dark."

XxX

They kept searching for a safe place and all was quiet, until they heard the sound of people running and yelling. "Keep running! Don't turn around don't-" There was a gun shot and the man fell forward. His female companion screamed before a bullet whizzed through her. Daryl cursed as he pulled Beth into an alley way. Her blue eyes were wide and tearing up. "Daryl, we gotta do something."

Daryl shook his head and gripped her hand as they walked silently through the back alley. "We can't."

Beth's face was unreadable, but she seemed to understand as she gripped his hand tightly. Daryl lead her through and abandoned apartment building until a door swung open and he felt a throbbing pain on his head before everything went black.

XxX

_"So how long have you both been stuck here?"_

_"About two weeks, my brother and I been tryin' to get out- but those hunters out there. They're brutal."_

_"You know a way out of the city?"_

_"Mhm, just gotta make it over the bridge- then we're home free."_

His vision was blurry when he came too. He registered he was on a bed and the light from a simple candle flicked. As his eyes adjusted, he groaned and Beth filled his vision. She had an angelic look to her, it was something he hadn't noticed yet. But between her blonde hair, blue eyes and porcelain skin, she actually looked like something that fell right from heaven and into this word. "Good, you're up." She spoke softly as she brushed some hair out of his eyes. You have a helluva bump, but don't worry, Noah apologizes."

"Noah?" He grunted as he sat up, only to be pushed back down on the bed by Beth. It was then when an dark skinned teenager and a little boy walked over to the side of the bed. The boy was standing behind the teen, only peeking out to look at Daryl

"They thought we were hunters." Beth explained. "Apparently those people? They kill anyone that comes into the city, their territory." She clarified. "Noah knows a way out though and he's gonna help us."

"Yeah," Noah spoke up. "It's just me and my brother Duane, we came into this city with our group to gather supplies- we had no idea we were walking into a trap. There is this light house right over the bridge, if we can make it there, we'll be safe."

Daryl's eyebrows furrowed, he didn't trust this kid, but Beth did. "Wait, what makes you think that they won't follow us out of the city."

"They won't because they won't see us leave." He looked over at Beth and chuckled. "And I gotta admit, if we do get caught, your girlfriend right there can just go all Elektra on 'em." Daryl looked at him, confused until he saw a white bandage with a red stain around his arm. "Girl threw a knife at me."

Daryl glanced over at Beth who hid a shy smile. "I wasn't gonna let anybody hurt you." She muttered, her cheeks flushing red. "But don't worry, I stitched him up so it's all okay now."

He actually chuckled as he sat up on the bed. "So it's you savin' me now?" He asked and Beth laughed. "Wait, how do we know you guys ain't one of them?"

It was Noah who spoke up. "In case you haven't noticed, those hunters don't keep women or children around. That's how we knew you guys were the good guys- after I knocked you out and Beth stabbed me." He shrugged his shoulders and looked at the little boy and the frail looking blonde. "Survival of the fittest and all of that." Now it was Daryl who chuckled, if they only knew.

XxX

It was dark when the left the safety of the apartment, Daryl had finally gotten his bearings and followed Noah from building to building with that little kid right next to him, talking up a storm. "That weapon is so cool," Duane said with awe in his voice. "And your girlfriend with the throwing knives! You both are like butt whooping superheroes!" Daryl grunted in response to the kid, he was never really good with kids. "S'not my girlfriend." Daryl nodded toward Beth who was walking up ahead with Noah. "Just someone I'm helping."

"Oh," Duane smiled a little. "Maybe she likes my brother then."

Daryl actually snorted and felt a twang of jealousy in his stomach from that statement. "Naw, kid, girl's got an important mission to do. She don't have time for that."

"Like a superhero mission?" Duane asked with amazement in his voice.

Daryl sighed and nodded his head. "Yeah, like a superhero mission."

The kid seemed to actually like that idea and Daryl heard him faintly say that he knew it, but right now he was more focused on this guy that was walking with Beth. He wasn't _jealous, _Daryl Dixon did not get jealous and there was really no room for him to be.

"That's the place right there." Daryl heard Noah say as he motioned them to duck down behind a crumbling wall. "We just gotta get past 'em and since it's night, it'll be a skeleton crew." Noah's attention turned to Duane. "Remember, you stick to me like glue, got it?"

"Like glue," Duane repeated quickly. Noah nodded his head and turned to Daryl and Beth. "Let's get that door open."

Daryl stepped forward and together, himself and Noah pushed the large metal doors that blocked off the bridge out of the city. "Oh shit!" He heard Beth swear and when he turned around, he saw that the hunters had spotted them. "Get in, now! Daryl yelled to Beth and Duane.

The two rushed forward and Noah and Daryl squeezed through the crack of the doors, slamming them and locking them. "We gotta move, and we gotta move fast"

_"They're over here!" _one of the hunters yelled, but a bullet whizzed past and took him out, Daryl went over to the trailer he was standing on. "Alright, check it out." Noah came over first and Daryl boosted him on the trailer. He called Duane over next as the sound of bullets filled the air. "Beth!" Daryl shouted. "C'mon!" Beth came over to him and he lifted her up, Noah grabbed her outstretched arm and helped her up.

As soon as she was steady, she leaned down to help Daryl up when the metal doors flew open and the hunters kept pushing at the gate. "C'mon Daryl, c'mon!" She franticly said as Noah tried to tug on her arm. "No!" She screamed at him. "We gotta get him up."

Noah began to back away. "Sorry- sorry we can't." He helplessly said. "Just come with us."

Beth starred at him with disgust. "No, this is bullshit!" She jumped down from the trailer and gave Noah the finger. "Fuck you." She took a deep breath, her blonde hair falling out of her pony tail. "We stick together."

Daryl looked at her in awe as the rattling of the gate became louder. "Alright." He was so sure she was going to abandon him. He watched as she went over to a garage door as the gate busted open and a tank came barreling through. "Oh fuck." Daryl muttered and went over to help her open the garage door and they both rolled under it. "C'mon, we're gonna get out of this."

"Two people against a tank?" She asked, her voice full of panic.

And he smirked a smirk she had never seen before. "Yeah, but they don't have crossbow." He could hear the tank blasting off. "Or any sense, c'mon. I got us a plan."


	5. A Leap of Faith

The Last of Us

There were a few things that Daryl as really good at. Hunting and tracking were things that he was taught at a young age, learning how to fend for himself and fight he learned in grade school, killing the undead in his early adulthood, killing a human being in his late twenties and finally, learning how to read people. That last one came along later in life. People were liars, even more so when the end times struck, so he learned how to read people. Right now, he could tell Beth was scared shitless, but she was sticking with him and his crazy plan. He looked over at her as they hid behind a bar, two hunters were looking for them and Daryl put a finger to his lips as one of them came over to them. Daryl jumped up, slit the guy's throat and the others started shooting. Daryl was sure he was shot, but Beth surprised him again, firing off her gun and shooting the other man. "C'mon." He grunted, "This way." He pulled at the chained up door and Beth slipped out and holding the doors open from him.

Daryl could have sworn he saw a brief smile of Beth's face when they came face to face with the bridge. "We made it." Her soft voice spoke out. "We did it." But the celebration was cut short when the tank came barreling through another gate. Beth noticed how Daryl's jaw clenched when he saw the war machine and he made her duck when the first shot went off, making her ears ring something fierce. Daryl's voice was muffled, but she could understand he was telling her to run. She watched him in horror as he ran over to the tank and pulled a small object from his belt. He chucked it into the cannon of the tank and the men inside quickly jumped from it.

"We gotta go, Beth." He yelled as he came running back, the ringing in her ears going away. "C'mon!" The guns kept going off and bullets flew by them. She could have sworn she heard Daryl scream in pain and he clutched his arm as they ran past cars and buses that were full of rust and plants.

They came to a stop at the edge of the bridge and looked down at the rushing water below them. Beth looked at Daryl, a pleading look on her face, but the men were closing in. "Do you trust me?" Daryl asked her and Beth slowly nodded her head. Daryl swallowed hard and he grabbed her hand. "Don't let go."

And they jumped right into the rushing water below.

XxX

The last thing Beth remembered was jumping into the river of cold water and Daryl wrapped his arms securely around her. She remembered how he pulled her close to his chest as the currents pulled them down stream and how for first time in years, she felt safe, even in a situation like that.

But now, as she awoke, she felt those strong arms around her still and as she opened her eyes she saw Daryl looking down at her. A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Hey, blondie, you're back."

Beth rubbed her head as she sat up- in his lap. She looked around and noticed that they were on a river bank and behind Daryl stood Noah and Duane. Beth's eyes narrowed and she glared at them. "Why are they here?" She practically growled. It was then and there that Daryl saw a different side to Beth. She clenched onto his leather vest and narrowed her eyes at Noah. "They left you to die!" Beth added in a shrill voice.

"They pulled us from the water," Daryl explained, giving her a reassuring look. "They saved us, okay." Beth's face remained stone cold, he could tell that she was still very upset with what happened. "What he did was shitty, okay? But he's got someone to look after, I'd do the same thing if I was him."

"No, no you wouldn't." Beth deadpanned, the look in her eye was something of determination and she glanced back over at Noah and Duane. "You slip up again, and that's it." Noah nodded his head quickly and Beth stood up on wobbly legs. Her clothes were drenched and her long blond hair was stuck to her neck. At least the river dive could have counted for a bath. She squeezed the excess water from her hair and reached a hand out to help Daryl up.

"The light house is right up there," Noah spoke up for the first time since they were reunited. "It's safe there and the rest of my group should be there."

Daryl nodded as he picked up his cross bow. "M'kay, you lead the way."

Noah gave them both a nervous look, they both knew that he was a little more fearful then themselves. But he seemed to swallow his fear and nodded to them. "Okay, follow me then."

XxX

The walk to the lighthouse was quiet to say the least, they only encountered a few walkers that Daryl took out easily with his cross bow. This time, however, Beth stayed close to Daryl's side and every once and a while he'd catch her glance and her ears would turn a light pink color before she turned away. "Think I gotta teach ya how to swim." Beth glanced over at him with a confused look on her face. "Don't know how you made it this far without knowing, I'll teach ya though, s'important that ya learn." Beth smiled brightly at him and Daryl's lip twitched. "Gotta find a shallow pool or something cause-"

"Daryl! Beth!"

It was Noah, his quick whisper made them both look in the direction he was pointing and what they saw made their face pale. It looked like walkers, but there was something…off about the three that were tearing into the flesh of some fallen people that Daryl guess where once a part of Noah's group. The walkers seemed to sense that they were there because one of them looked up and made an ear ringing screech before actually running toward them. "Since when do they run!" Beth yelled as she pulled her gun from the back of her jeans, cursing when it didn't shoot.

"I have no fucking idea." Daryl said as he shot the one that was barreling toward them. "So much for your light house, run!"

The two other walkers were right on their trail as they took off into the woods. They had to find shelter- and fast. Daryl aimed his crossbow and took a quick shot and looked up ahead. "A cabin, right there. Beth, take Noah and Duane and lock yourselves in, I'll be right there, I just gotta…"

"Duane!" Beth and Daryl both whirled around to see that the last walker had Duane pinned to the ground, it's teeth chomping as he tried to bite the younger boy. Daryl didn't even take a minute to think before he rushed over and imbedded his knife into it's skull. He helped the shaking boy up.

"Did it git ya?" Daryl roared. "Did it bite ya?" Duane shook his head no and Daryl sighed. "c'mon then, let's get to that cabin then, we all need the rest."

Beth walked over to Daryl and put a hand on his shoulder as she watched Noah help Duane into the house. "You think he's telling the truth? 'Bout not getting bit?"

Daryl shrugged his shoulders. "Just gotta live on honesty these days, if the boy was bit, we'd see a mark. Now c'mon, I know what's in these types of shacks, we are gonna have ourselves a good night."

**XxX**

**_A/N- Short chapter, I know but I already have six in the mix. I decided to introduce a new kind of zombie, that our heroes will call a runner. Just like the last of us has their types of infected, I wanted to add different types of the undead. Who knows, the virus could have morphed and I already have an idea on how the virus broke out and that will be introduced in the next chapter. _**


	6. Born Unto Trouble

The Last of Us

The cabin they had found ended up having a huge surprise, like Daryl had promised. As Noah and Beth boarded up the windows and set up a parameter, Daryl was in a shed looking for something. Once the small cabin was safe and they found dinner, Daryl took out a crate that looked like mason jars filled with water. Both Noah and Beth looked at him in confusion as Duane went off to the bedroom to get some sleep. "Moonshine." He explained as he opened a jar and sniffed it. "Perfectly aged." He told them and Beth smiled as he handed her the jar and took a sip, cringing from the taste.

"My daddy used to say that bad moonshine could blind ya." Beth said as she picked at her fingers

Daryl handed Noah a jar and shrugged his shoulders. "Ain't nothin' worth seeing in this world anymore."

"I can drink to that." Noah muttered and they all raised their jars and clanked them together

XxX

The candles illuminated the small cabin as Daryl sat up against the wall, Beth's head was resting on his thigh as they both listened to Noah talk about his childhood. About his dad, Morgan and his mom. They listened to his dreams of becoming a doctor, it was all happy memories. They were all pretty much drunk by now. "What about you Beth, you have any talents that we don't know about?"

Beth let out a drunken giggled and she smiled up at Daryl when Noah asked his question. "Well-" she began, raising a finger. "I'm an amazing singer." She slurred. "I was in the choir from the time I was six till the shit hit the fan. But I still sing."

Daryl raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He looked up at Noah and smirked. "Then why don't ya sing fer us and prove your ah-mazin' talents."

"Fine- whatcha boys wanna hear?" Beth asked, her head still on Daryl's thigh. It wasn't something he'd allow he if he was sober, but he wasn't and Beth was just so…he couldn't think of the word in his hazy mind.

"Somethin' that ain't some Brittany Spears or pop shit." Daryl commented, getting a nod of approval from Noah.

Beth faked a gasp. "You both underestimate me!" She pouted before pausing to think. "S'okay, I got one." She flashed another smile up at Daryl before she started to sing. _"Big wheels keep on turning /Carry me home to see my kin/ Singing songs about the southland/ miss alabamy once again/And I think its a sin, yes."_

"Get the fuck outta here." Daryl's mouth dropped, not only for her song choice but her voice. It was the most beautiful thing he had heard in a long time. "Girl, you need to turn that to Sweet Home Georgia."

Beth laughed, her cheek's flushed from the alcohol rushing through her system before singing the chorus and changed it just like Daryl asked. _"Sweet home Georgia Where the skies are so blue/ Sweet home Georgia/ Lord, I'm coming home to you." _After the turn, Beth had scrounged for any type of music and this song, this one song made her feel as if everything was okay and that nothing changed. Right now, she felt normal even as Daryl and Noah joined into the old song. For that one moment, all their fears rushed away and they allowed themselves a good time

XxX

"Oh sweet baby Jesus." Beth grumbled as sunlight flooded into the room. She pried her eyes open and gagged on the cotton like feeling that took over her mouth. Once her eyes adjusted, she looked up to see that she had fallen asleep pretty much cuddling with Daryl. Beth sat up quickly, waking the archer up in the process. "Oh my head." She moaned as Daryl chuckled at her. "S'not funny, you're hungover too."

"Yeah, but not as bad as yours, princess- that was your first drink so now you have your first hangover." He stood up as Beth leaned her head back on the wall. "Now c'mon, songbird let's get some food. I'll get Noah up and you get the kid up and ready."

Beth stood up and took a moment to gather her footing. "Never drinkin' again." She spat as she stepped over Noah and headed to the bedroom. "You're a terrible influence, Mr. Dixon." She added as she knocked on the door and waited for a response.

That earned a laugh from Daryl "Mhm, and you are a freakin' light weight." Beth glared at him. "And a happy drunk, but a pissy morning person."

She scoffed at him and turned her attention back to the door, giving it a knock again and let a few seconds go by. When Duane didn't answer it, she gently called her name before opening the door. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Duane standing in a corner with his head against the wall. "Duane." She called again. The boy quickly turned around and Beth's face paled as he let out an un-earthly screech. Black fluid dripped from his mouth and his eyes were ghostly white as he charged at Beth. "Daryl!" Beth screamed, but he was already there behind her with his finger on the trigger. Noah came running up behind them, yelling out a no, but Daryl already pulled the safety off and a bullet embedded into the dead child's forehead, making him fall to the ground right in front of Beth's feet.

"No!" Noah screamed. "No, no, no!" He pushed past Beth and Daryl and knelt down in front of his little brother's corpse. "Nonononono," He sobbed. "Duane, c'mon buddy, Duane!" Noah looked up at Beth and Daryl, his whole body shaking. "You- you son of a bitch!" Noah shouted. "You killed him like some fuckin' animal." Noah took out his gun and pointed it right at Beth and Daryl. "You killed him!"

Daryl quickly moved Beth behind him and raised his hands up. "Noah, he got bit- he turned into one of those runnin' things. We couldn't keep 'im…this- it had to be done."

"For what!" Noah cried. "He's all I got, he's all-" He took the safety off of his gun. "This is your fault!" He shouted "This is your entire fault!" Keeping the gun aimed on Daryl and Beth. "He was my brother! That was my brother!" Noah screamed. He put his finger on the trigger before putting the gun against his own temple and pulling the trigger.

XxX

**FALL**

It had been two months since the cabin, two months since Daryl dug two graves, a child sized one and a adult one. Ever since then, they just walked, killed walkers, avoid humans and survived. It took about two weeks after what happened to Duane and Noah for Beth to smile again. It was hard to grasp that the night before that they were drinking and singing and having a good time. She didn't understand how something like that could just happen with a flip of the switch. "Haven't seen any runners 'round here yet." Daryl commented and Beth looked up at him. "Gettin' cold, they're probably freezin' up like the walkers."

The runners had been a pain in their side since that day when they found the cabin. They were a new breed of walkers, they could smell, hear, and chase after their prey. It didn't help that they traveled in packs much like the walkers. Beth lost count on how many nights they spent up in a tree or covered in mud to disguise their scent. "Rick's place is only a few more paces ahead. He apparently cleared out this prison and it's safe. We can take a break there for about a week, get appropriate clothes. Daryl didn't want to tell her yet that he was going to ask Rick to take Beth off his hands.

"So who's Rick?" Beth asked him. "Is he like your bother or something?"

Daryl chuckled, if she only knew who his brother was she'd be steering clear of this place and him in general. "Naw, Rick is the leader of the group I came from. They're all good people, you'll like them."

"So why'd ya leave?" Beth asked as she played with a red leaf in her hands. "I mean if they're like family to you, why'd you leave them."

He wasn't gonna tell her that he had to leave because he chose his brother over that group and Carol had left with him because of the bond they shared. He wasn't going to tell her that Merle almost killed Rick and how Rick gave Daryl the ultimatum. But it was hard to explain, Merle wasn't a bad guy- he just made bad choices. "We got into a disagreement and I left."

"That seems to happen a lot, me and my sister Maggie-" Beth caught herself and Daryl looked back at her. "Nevermind." Maggie, Shawn, her Mama and Daddy had been a sore topic for her. Yeah, she witnessed her daddy's death but she still had a small bit of hope that the others were out there. It was a big world after all. "So how far till we're there?"

"Just gotta follow this river here and we'll be there." He explained as they trekked through the wilderness. This was where Daryl was at his best, he was pretty much raised in the woods and the woods of West Virginia looked the like the woods of Georgia, just had a different smell to it. "I used ta hunt in woods like these. My brother, he taught me when I was a kid." Daryl figured talking was better than silence at this point, especially when she figured out that he'd be leaving her with Rick once the week past. "One time, when I was seven, I was lost in the woods for a week straight. Ain't no one came lookin' for me. My brother was in juvie and my dad was shackin' up with this bar tender." He chuckled when he saw Beth's eyes go wide. "But I lived off the land, my ass itched somethin' fierce though. I had used poison oak for some toilet paper and man- did that hurt like a bitch. I found my way back to our trailer in the woods, went inside and made myself a sandwich and found powder for my ass."

Beth found herself picturing a little Daryl Dixon wandering in the woods, lost and alone and she almost found her heart breaking, until he added the part about the poison oak and she found herself laughing. "Hey, my itchy ass ain't somethin' to laugh about." He smirked at her. "What I mean is, that if a seven year old me can live in the woods, you can too."

"I have, thanks to you teachin' me." She told him, her cheeks going pink. "I mean living offa mud snakes ain't my favorite part of the trip, but it's survival, right?"

Daryl nodded his head in agreement. When he first met Beth with her pretty face and her frail looking body, he figured that she wouldn't last in this world. But she proved him wrong from time to time and now? He respected her, she could make it no problem by herself. "I'm gonna teach you how to hunt too, I mean the swimming didn't really work."

"Cause you piggy backed me over another river?" She asked with a giggle.

"Was a serious piggy back!" He argued playfully and the two shared a smile. "But you'll learn how to hunt and track, I promise."

Beth reached down and slowly intertwined her fingers with his and gave his hand a squeeze. Much to her surprise, Daryl squeezed back. She was going to say something, but Rick's prison came into view and Daryl nodded his head. "C'mon, let's go get ourselves a bed and a warm shower. Never once in my life have I been happy to see a prison."

_**A/N- thank you all for the positive reviews! For any of you that played the game, I'm sure you possibly knew about Noah and Duane's fate. But I had to give them a happy moment before everything went down. Next chapter will have a huge Bethyl moment in it so stay tuned!**_


	7. Confessions and Feelings

The Last of Us

Rick's prison stood at the very end of the woods and when Beth got a good look at it, it pretty much took her breath away. It was pretty much a small community with growing crops and livestock, small cabins built around the huge prison yard. The sun shone brightly on the large spot of land and Beth beamed. There were children playing in the yard, women hanging clothes and chatting with each other. It was better than the city, these people seemed- happy. As they walked up to the gate, she heard a woman curse and quickly opened the gate. "Daryl!" The woman exclaimed with a smile on her face. She looked pretty strong from what Beth could tell. Her face was proud but looked as if it held many horrors of the past ten years, she even had a sword type thing strapped on her back. "Daryl Dixon, never thought we'd see you again."

"Why, you didn't think I could survive this long? I might not have mighty ninja skills like you, Michonne, but my arrows never miss." The woman, who Beth knew now was Michonne smiled at Daryl and shook her head, laughing. She then looked over at Beth and raised her eyebrows before giving Daryl a different kind of smirk. "Oh," He looked behind him to see that Beth, nervously looking at Michonne. "This is Beth," His eyes narrowed at Michonne when she realized what she was thinking. "She's a friend who I'm helpin' out."

Michonne nodded her head in a sarcastic way before looking over at Beth. "Uh-huh, sure." She unlocked the gate and let them in. "You got old, Daryl." She observed and then took a deep breath. "So where's Carol." Both he and Beth stiffened up at her question and Michonne looked down at the ground, fully understanding that she was no longer with them. "I'm sorry."

An awkward silence fell between them before Daryl spoke up. "I'm here to see Rick, got some questions for him, ya know where he is?"

"Of course," She looked at the pair again and noticed that other people were now taking notice to Daryl and Beth's mud and blood covered clothes and bodies. "How about we get you both a shower and some new clothes, then you can talk to Rick."

As Michonne escorted them to the bath house, Beth saw how everyone looked at them. It was as if the people were scared of them. "Don't mind them." She explained. "They forget what it's like to be out there."

**XxX**

Beth let out a moan when she felt warm water against her aching body. She practically jumped into the bath house when Michonne told them about warm running water. She didn't even hear the whole mechanics and how they got it to work. Beth gladly took the towels and the bar of soap before running off into the woman's side without any other explanation.

"Well she looked happy." Michonne observed

"Yeah well, we you get the option of stankin' or bathin' in a river full of leeches, you choose to be stankin." Daryl explained, taking his towels and soap from Michonne and leaving her with a disgusted look on her face. About five minutes passed and Daryl was already done his shower. He walked out of the bath house in a flannel shirt and jeans that had been provided by Michonne. He threw on his leather vest, grabbed his crossbow and walked out into the afternoon sun where Rick was waiting for him.

"Long time no see." Rick greeted him. Carl was at his side and Judith was in his arms. "Michonne said you needed something?"

Daryl smiled at Judith and looked over at Carl. "Damn, the kid and lil asskicker grew like weeds." Carl looked to be about seventeen and Judy to be about 4. He didn't realize how long it was since he'd seen them. "But I do need a favor, I know I left on shitty terms, but I really need this."

Rick nooded his head and looked over at Michonne. "Fine, let's go talk then."

**XxX**

Beth felt like a new woman when she stepped out of that shower. She pulled the pink and white stripped hoodie over a new bra that had been provided and a pair of jeans. Not only did it feel good being in new clothes, but new underwear had been a god send. She walked out of the bathhouse and saw that Michonne was waiting for her with a teenage boy and a little girl. Beth finished braiding her hair and smiled at Michonne before kneeling down in front of the little girl and smiling. "I haven't seen a kid in a long time."

The little girl blinked at her and put a small chubby hand on her face. "Are you a princess?" She asked in a small voice. "You look like one of 'em from my book."

"I'm no princess, sweetheart- I am Beth though."

The little girl beamed at her. "I'm Judy and that's Carl, he's my big brother." Carl gave Beth a squeaky hello before blushing a bright red. "He hasn't seen a pretty girl in a long time."

Michonne cleared her throat and Beth looked up at the older woman. "Daryl's talking to Rick, so I figured I'd show you where you'd be staying."

Beth smiled back at the older woman. "That would be great."

**XxX**

"Shit, you actually got electricity runnin' up in this place?" Daryl chuckled as they walked through the prision. "Back when we cleared this place out, we were livin' offa spam and usin' candles to see." He blew out a whistle and shook his head. "You did good, Rick."

Rick walked along side Daryl, nodding his head. "I had help, Michonne, Carl, Glenn- some of the people that came along. We built this place up and nothing has gotten in it since you left-" He paused as they went into the warden's office. "So, what's with you and that girl? You finally settlin' down?"

Daryl shook his head no and made himself comfortable in a padded chair and looked up at Rick. "You might wanna sit for this, he said, motioning for the opposite chair. "Now, this is something that we gotta keep between me and her. Beth, she's special, she's immune to the walkers. Girl got bit over a year ago and she's still livin' and just two months ago, I saw it for myself. A walker attacked her and some of it's blood got into her mouth, she didn't turn. Dawn says she is the cure and- well, you need to take her to Washington."

Rick was silent for a few minutes, he sat back against the chair with an unreadable look on his face. After ten years of pure hell, ten freaking years the cure was in some girl and Daryl Dixon was giving the responsibly to escort her to Washington. "You saw it for yourself, and the bite mark?" Daryl nodded. "Shit." He dragged his hand across his face. "And here I thought you got over Andrea with some young look alike." Rick sighed when he noticed the look on Daryl's face and stood up from his chair, going into a desk and taking out a picture and handed it to Daryl. "Found this of you and Andrea, after you proposed to her. Figured if I ever saw you again, I'd give it to ya."

Daryl looked over the picture. He hardly recognized himself in the picture and Andrea- he quickly handed the picture back to Rick, shaking his head no as he took out his last cigarette out. "Look, you gonna take the girl to Dawn or what?" Daryl snapped. "I just need you to take her offa my hands, please!"

"Why, it's cause you feel somethin' ain't it?" Rick questioned. "I get it's hard and after Lori, I didn't even wanna think and then Michonne came along." Rick sighed at Daryl's pleading face. "Look, I'll talk to 'Chonne about it and if I can get an okay from her, I'll take her off your hands." Rick shook his head as he put the picture back onto the desk. "They ain't gonna be happy about this."

"Who?" Daryl barked and Rick nodded his head over to Beth and Michonne who were both standing in the doorway. While Michonne looked pissed, Beth looked like she could burn down a house. "Shit, Beth."

Tears were welling up in her eyes and she shook her head no. "This was your whole plan? To drop me just like that? I thought that we…you promised-" She furiously wiped her tears away. "You know what? Fuck you!" She hissed, flipping him off and storming out of the room.

The three old friends all stood there in shock before Daryl went off after her. "Beth, wait- lemme explain!" Rick and Michonne were right at his heels, but they just missed Beth as they walked out to the court yard. A man was kicking up dirt and cussing like a sailor, talking about how some blonde took one of the horses and road off. "Rick, I need to go after her." Rick gave a nod to the stable hand and they handed him the reins to a horse. The gates of the prison opened up again and the two men rushed off right on Beth's trail

**XxX**

"Tracks go down this trail right here." Daryl quickly studied as he got back onto his horse. "Can't believe she ran away! Some fuckin' adult she is, I'll tell ya what she is, she's a freakin' spoiled little brat!"

"She has feelings for you." Rick deadpanned. "Did you see the look on her face, she was heart broken. Now I don't understand why a girl like that would have feelings for someone as cranky as you, but she does. What did you promise her anyway?"

Daryl shrugged his shoulders. "Just stuff and thangs."

"Then you shouldn't promise stuff and thangs unless you plan to keep 'em." Rick chastised. "You can't promise somethin' to a woman and not keep it. They remember everything, trust me. Now I think you should stay with Beth, take her to Washington, let Dawn do what she needs to do and bring her and the cure back here, have a life with her if that's what you want."

There was just silence from Daryl, which made Rick wonder if he was now thinking about keeping Beth with him or just annoyed. "We'll talk about this when we find her."

**XxX**

A few miles down the trail, they found an abandoned farm house with a horse hitched up in front of it. "Area looks clear." Rick muttered as Daryl got off his horse. "Just be careful."

Daryl opened up the front door with his cross bow at the ready. The house looked like the apocalypse never happened. It hadn't been looted or vandalized, but a thick layer of dust covered everything. "Beth!" His voice echoed through the house. "Beth!"

"I'm up here!" Beth's voice rang out from a room upstairs.

Daryl growled to himself as he walked up the stairs. "Jesus Christ." He grumbled while walking down the hallway the room where Beth was sitting in. It was a teenage girl's room from what he could tell and Beth had made herself comfortable on the bed as she read a small book.

"Man is this all they had to worry about?" She asked, not looking up from the book. "Boys, movies, what shoes go with what shirt?" Beth paused and shook her head. "What I do if I coulda worried about that when I was sixteen."

"Get up, we're leavin' c'mon." Daryl commanded as he turned toward the door.

"And what if I say no?" Beth questioned, not moving from the bed.

Daryl's eyebrows furrowed at her and a growl erupted in his throat. "Do you have any idea what your life means, huh? Runnin' off like that and puttin' yourself in danger? It's pretty god damn selfish!"

"Then I guess we're both pretty god damn selfish." Beth countered back as she put down the diary.

"What do you want from me? Huh?" Daryl grounded out as he walked over to her. "I took you here like I promised, I risked my life for you. I did my job, I got you to Rick and he knows this area better than me, he knows Dawn and those fuckin' fireflies better than me."

Beth whirled on him. "Stop with the bullshit, you are the best tracker I know."

"I can't trust myself with you!" He bellowed. "If somethin' happened to you or if I did somethin'…"

"What are you so afraid of? Beth interrupted. "That I'll end up like Andrea!" Daryl froze when she brought up her name. "I can't get infected, I can take care of myself! Or are you just afraid of admitting that you fell somthin' yeah, I get it- big tough guy all strung out because he lost the love of his life- but I'm not her! Michonne told me what happened. About the walker that bit her and about how you went on this rampage. I get it! I'm sorry about your fiancée, Daryl, but I lost people too."

Daryl's face turned a beat red as he stomped over toward Beth till he was nose to nose with her. "You have no idea what loss is!" He spat.

Beth held her own against him, keeping her eyes locked with his and not backing down at his anger. "Everyone I have ever cared for has either died or left me, everyone expect for you! I watched some delusional asshole decapitate my father in front of me and I have no clue where my Mama and my brother and sister are- or if they're even alive…and Zach-" She took a shaky breath. "So don't you dare tell me that I'd be safer with someone else, cause I'd just be more scared then I am right now."

There was a long pause between the two of them until Daryl finally spoke up. "You're right, you ain't Andrea and I sure as hell ain't yer boyfriend and we are goin' our separate ways."

"I hate to break this up, but we got company."

Daryl turned around and saw Rick standing at the doorway of the bedroom. "There are two men upstairs already and two more downstairs. Gonna be like old times, what do you say, Daryl?"

Daryl backed away from Beth and nodded his head. "Hang back." He muttered to Beth as he crouched down and snuck up on the first man and slit his throat. The second one had noticed him and started to yell but Daryl's knife stopped him quickly. Once he got the all clear sign from Rick, Daryl and Beth walked down the stairs and looked over the bodies. "You know these guys?" Rick asked them. "I heard one of them say your names."

Of course they knew them, it was the guys from the city and they had actually tracked them here. "Nope, got no idea who they are."

**XxX**

Beth remained silent on the way back to the prison, not speaking a word to either men. It was something she should have never done was think that Daryl could even care about her. She had thought that they shared a bond, but he had proved her wrong. She looked back over at Daryl to notice that he was staring at her. She quickly turned back around and looked forward, this was so stupid- why did she have to like the brooding type of men that looked like they carried the world on their shoulders.

But as Daryl looked at Beth, he came to the realization that everything she said to him back at the house had been true. Over the few months they had been together, he had started to develop feelings for the stubborn blonde and it wasn't because she reminded him of Andrea, but because of who Beth was. An asskicker with the looks, voice, and personality of an angel. Beth was everything that he wasn't and sure, he had himself convinced that she'd never feel the same way, but the proof was in that one word, care. She cared about him and he hadn't had that in a long time. As they reached the prison, Daryl already came to his decision. "Beth, why don't you get off your horse and hand it back to Rick, I think we'll keep this one." She looked back at him with a look of surprise and happiness on her face. "I think you and me should finish this together, if that's still what you want."

Beth didn't even let him finish before she jumped from her horse and handed it over to Rick. She carefully made her way over to Daryl who helped her onto the back of the one he was on. "Of course that's what I want you Jackass, s'what I've been sayin' this whole time."

Rick looked at the two in confusion. "Michonne still scares me." Daryl admitted as Beth wrapped her arms around his torso. "I don't want to be skewered but that katana anytime soon." Rick smiled at the two of them and nodded.

"Okay," He began, rifling through his saddle bag and handing him a map. "The lab is in right in the pentagon, trust me you won't miss it." Rick paused as he looked between the two of them. He hadn't seen his best friend this content in a long time. He even could say that Daryl looked happy with this tiny woman wrapped around him. "Now remember, there is a place for the both of you here. So when this is done, you both come back here."

Daryl nodded in agreement and reached out to shake Rick's hand. "See you soon, brother."

"Yup, see you soon- Beth?" The blonde haired woman looked up. "You keep him in line now, you hear?"

Beth laughed. "Of course I will, been doin' it the whole time."

Rick watched as they rode off in their direction with a smile on his face. Daryl had really gotten himself deep with this one, but he had a feeling that Beth was truly what his best friend needed.


	8. A Healing touch

**The Last of Us**

"You've ever been to Washington?"

"Nope"

"So this is your first time to Washington?"

"Yup."

"Well there ya go, now we have a first together."

Daryl chuckled lightly as they road along the streets of a deserted safe zone. The Walkers that occupied the place were now frozen in place and Daryl remembered why he loved the colder seasons so much. However, along with cold days of riding on the horse, deemed Moonshine by Beth, with Beth's body pressed up against his, came the even colder nights where she'd curl up against him to keep warm. They always had about a dozen blankets around them to keep themselves warm, but Daryl was starting to enjoy how she felt against him. Sometimes she'd sing a soft song and he'd find himself drifting off and other times she'd drag her fingers along his forehead. Everything about her was soothing to him, but what he liked the most was when they both woke up and their limbs were tangled together. You couldn't tell where either of them began or ended. Daryl knew him and Beth were something, but neither one of them questioned it.

"So when we get there, they'll take a small sample of my blood and we can go back to Ricks!" Beth happily said. "The world will have its cure and we'll have a normal life."

Daryl looked over his shoulder and noticed the eyes that Beth was giving him, those infamous doe eyes of hers. "That sounds like a good plan to me."

Beth's cheeks burned and she giggled. "Okay, then let's get a move on. Tally ho! Moonshine."

"Fuckin' hate that name."

"Ah deal with it."

**XxX**

As they rode up to the Pentagon, Daryl's eyes narrowed in suspicion. The building looked completely deserted. Not one person was standing guard and there wasn't a flicker of candle light or a beam of light coming from a flashlight. There was nothing. "You think this is a trap or something?" Beth asked and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Not gonna know till we find out." He grunted and he heard Beth sigh behind him. "C'mon Moonshine."

He hitched the horse up and helped Beth down from the saddle, with a deep breath and her head held high, she strolled into the building. "Hello, anyone here?" Daryl was right behind her, his crossbow ready. "Cure to mankind here!" She looked over at Daryl again with confusion on her face. "The place is a ghost town."

Daryl nodded his head in agreement. It truly was a ghost town; he kept Beth at his side as they wandered down the halls. The some of the walls had been destroyed and plant life had taken over the building. "It's Thanksgiving today." Beth murmured to him as they found a flight of stairs. "I keep calendars, for holidays- birthdays and new year." She explained as she Daryl brushed off a sign. "I actually have something to be thankful for this year." He glanced up at her and his gaze made her cheeks burn. "It's you- actually, I'm thankful for you and for what you're doing."

Daryl didn't respond but rather point up the stairs. "The medical lab is up there," He sighed when he watched her face fall. "They'll do what they gotta do and when they're done, me and you will celebrate Thanksgiving." Then there was that smile and Daryl could feel the corners of his lips twitch. "C'mon, cure to mankind.

**XxX**

The door to the lab wouldn't budge, it took Daryl and Beth a few moments before they could finally open it and when they did, the sight in front of them made their stomachs drop. In front of them were the decaying bodies of the lab techs. Each one with a bullet in their skulls. "Shit, suicide pack." He muttered as he took the shot gun out of one of the skeletal hands and gave it to Beth. "Look around, see if you can find anything." Beth gave a silent okay and went to work looking through the journals. He watched with a chuckled as she gently moved one of the bodies from a chair and sat down on it and he got to work to. It wasn't long till he found a tape recorder and pressed play. It made Beth look up from the notebooks and they both listened to the man's desperate voice, saying there was no hope, no cure, no point of living anymore. But then he gave the location to the other lab. Colorado State University, Daryl stopped the recoding and stuffed the recorder in Beth's bag.

"Guess we're going to Colorado then?" Beth asked.

"Yup, go Rams." He grumbled. "Now how about I got hunt us a meal and we call it a day."

Beth smiled as she walked over toward him. "That'd be-" They were cut off by a flashlight blinding them from the other side of the building. "Fireflies?" Beth asked and Daryl shook his head.

"No, run!" He ordered as bullets started to fly. "The guys from the city, they found us on the farm and have been tracking us."

There were about four shells left in the shot gun and Beth made every bullet count. He had to admit that she had gotten better since they first met. She used the butt of the gun to bash the men that were coming toward them along the head. They kept running, they had to though because keeping her alive was his main job.

"Down this hallway, saw an exit here earlier!" Daryl told her. But as he opened the door, a man with a sharpened pipe came barreling at him. He felt something go through his body and a gunshot go off as him and the attacker fell over the stair case to the first floor below. Daryl's vision became blurry but he heard Beth's voice scream his name. She soon filled his vision, her tear filled eyes she moved her hands to cup his face. Two more men came through the doors and Daryl pushed Beth aside as he shot two bullets into their skulls. "Daryl," She asked. "What do I do? You gotta tell me what to do!"

"Get this thing out of me." He croaked.

"No, no- my daddy said that if-"

"Just get it out of me!" He ordered in a harsher tone. Beth nodded her head and took off one of the coats she had on. Without warning, she pulled the metal object from his torso and used her coat to catch the blood. "Let's go." Daryl said as she helped him up. He used her for balance only once but from then on, he didn't want her help, no matter how much he needed it. Two more men came running down the stairs.

"The girl, Gareth want's her!"

But they didn't even get a chance to walk down the stairs before Beth landed a few rounds in them. She turned back over to Daryl with desperation on her face. "Just lean on me, please." This time, he gave into her begging and she wrapped a tiny arm around his torso as they hobbled out of the pentagon. One of the hunters were attempting to steal the horse but Beth took care of him too. She got on Moonshine first and helped Daryl on. She made sure that he was holding on to her before giving the horse a quick kick. "Just stay with me, please Daryl- just stay with me."

And that's all he heard before everything went black.

**XxX**

"Come on, come on-" Beth muttered as she rubbed a twig against a log. "C'mon light, damnit." And just like that, a few sparks erupted and a small flame started to burn. She added some leaves and twigs before it turned into a roaring flame and then looked back at Daryl. They had taken refuge in a frozen yogurt shop in a mall, figuring there had to be something here that could help him. Beth was just getting him set up before she went around looking for bandages and medicine. She placed a hand on his cheek and gave him a sad smile when she noticed his teeth were chattering. "You're gonna be okay." She whispered. "I'm going to fix this." Beth leaned down slowly and brushed her lips against his forehead. "Just hold on."

Beth stood up from his side and pulled on her coat. "I'll be right back." She promised as she shut and locked the door behind her.

Before the turn, the mall had been decorated for Christmas. The huge artificial tree still stood in the center of the mall with Santa's secret workshop around it. The whole thing made Beth's heart drop, she had loved the holiday as a child and to know that it was the season when all hell broke loose made her despise the holiday. With a sigh, she walked past the winter wonderland and went on the hunt for a drug store and maybe some clothes that could keep them warm. She did have more luck on the clothes, finding thermal underwear and socks along with sweaters, sweat shirts and snow suits which she hastily put on the sled she was dragging along. She also noticed a few more woolen blankets, at this point Beth would grab just about anything that would keep them warm because she figured she'd be in this mall for a while. Finally, when she made it to the drug store, she was lucky enough to find a bottle of hydrogen peroxide hidden under a frozen walker and a half of bottle of antibiotics. It might not have been enough, but it was something. She smiled widely and held the two bottles closely to her chest, maybe Daryl would be okay after all.

**XxX**

She made it back to Daryl as quick as she could and barricaded the door behind her. The fire was still blazing and Daryl seemed to be warmer, but he flinched when he felt her hands going to open his shirt. "It's okay, it's just me- this needs to be stitched up." Beth couldn't hide the waver in her voice when she noticed how ugly the wound actually was. With a deep breath and shaky hands, she reached for the hydrogen peroxide and uncapped the bottle. Her one hand reached out to grip his before she poured it over his open wound, watching as he cringed and whispered to him that it was going to be okay. As soon as it bubbled up and started to dry, she took the fishing line she found and a needle that she had sterilized in the fire. She blew out a breath as she threaded the needle and looked down at his half open blue eyes. "My daddy- he was a vet and he taught me once how to stitch an injury up- it's gonna hurt."

Daryl mumbled something she couldn't understand and gave a nod of his head and as quickly as she could, she began stitching up his injury- fighting back her own tears at the pain she was causing him. Once she was done, she cut off the rest of the fishing line and popped a pain pill into his mouth, forcing him to swallow it. "You gonna be up on your feet as soon as you know it." She promised as she put gauze over his stitches and buttoned his shirt back up. "And in an hour you'll need to take these antibiotics to stop infection." She paused for a moment to grab the extra bags before curling up next to him. Her eyes met his and she ran her fingers through his hair and his eyes fluttered shut. "You're gonna come out of this, Daryl, I know you will."

_**A/N- so I hope you all had a very merry christmas and along with this story, I will be starting a new au one with no ZA that will be up later tonight!**_


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